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Re: Cardinals hire Arians as head coach

Thought you guys might get a chuckle out of this from the Pittsburgh beat writer's blog:

--- Only Arizona could fire its Pittsburgh West coach, Ken Whisenhunt, and remain Pittsburgh West by hiring Bruce Arians. He may not have to go outside to hire much of his staff since he’s worked with many of them in place now, including his two coordinators, Ray Horton and Plum native Mike Miller.
--- The Steelers defense has been among the NFL’s best on a consistent basis for more than 40 years, yet their offensive coordinators are the ones who keep becoming head coaches around the league. The list includes Mike Mularkey, Ken Whisenhunt, Bruce Arians and Chan Gailey over the past 15 years. The only defensive coordinator during that time who went directly to a head coaching job was Jim Haslett, although Dick LeBeau did become Cincinnati’s head coach after leaving the Steelers to become the Bengals’ defensive coordinator. Even those great defenses from the 1970s never spawned a head coach. Tony Dungy, the Steelers defensive coordinator in the middle of the 1980s, ultimately became a head coach but not directly.

(May be behind a password firewall, don't remember how that part of their site works...)

Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
And life itself, rushing over me
Life itself, the wind in black elms,
Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

Re: Cardinals hire Arians as head coach

Thought you guys might get a chuckle out of this from the Pittsburgh beat writer's blog:

--- Only Arizona could fire its Pittsburgh West coach, Ken Whisenhunt, and remain Pittsburgh West by hiring Bruce Arians. He may not have to go outside to hire much of his staff since he’s worked with many of them in place now, including his two coordinators, Ray Horton and Plum native Mike Miller.
--- The Steelers defense has been among the NFL’s best on a consistent basis for more than 40 years, yet their offensive coordinators are the ones who keep becoming head coaches around the league. The list includes Mike Mularkey, Ken Whisenhunt, Bruce Arians and Chan Gailey over the past 15 years. The only defensive coordinator during that time who went directly to a head coaching job was Jim Haslett, although Dick LeBeau did become Cincinnati’s head coach after leaving the Steelers to become the Bengals’ defensive coordinator. Even those great defenses from the 1970s never spawned a head coach. Tony Dungy, the Steelers defensive coordinator in the middle of the 1980s, ultimately became a head coach but not directly.

(May be behind a password firewall, don't remember how that part of their site works...)

It's interesting that so many of Pitt's offensive guys get scooped up. But he uses "past 15 years" as the benchmark, so it would be impossible to have a large number of Pitt D Coordinators taking positions given that Dick Lebeau has been the DC since 2004.

Re: Cardinals hire Arians as head coach

It's interesting that so many of Pitt's offensive guys get scooped up. But he uses "past 15 years" as the benchmark, so it would be impossible to have a large number of Pitt D Coordinators taking positions given that Dick Lebeau has been the DC since 2004.

Good catch.

LeBeau, 2004 - as long as he wants it
Tim Lewis, 2000-2003
Jim Haslett, 97-99 as mentioned
LeBeau, 95-96, eventually the Bengals HC but not directly.
Dom Capers, 92-94... Ed missed this one. When he, Bill and Dick were done perfecting the Zone Blitz, he left to be the Panthers HC.
Dave Brazil (who? Noll's last DC) 90-91. Not a good team or good defense.
Rod Rust, 89... Ed missed this one. Left Pittsburgh to lead NE to a 1-15 record in 1990, fired after 1 season. Then they drafted Bledsoe, right? Probably selective memory, given the 1-15 fiasco.
Dungy, 84-88, then he left Noll to be KC's defensive backfield coach. Was he fired? Who does that?
Woody Widenhofer, 79-84, left to be HC of the USFL's Oklahoma franchise. Does that count?
George Perles, 78, then promoted to Assistant Head Coach through 82. Left to be the HC of Philadelphia's USFL franchise, contract dispute, then Michigan St.
Bud Carson, 73-77, eventually became HC of the Browns a decade later.

Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
And life itself, rushing over me
Life itself, the wind in black elms,
Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

Re: Cardinals hire Arians as head coach

LeBeau, 2004 - as long as he wants it
Tim Lewis, 2000-2003
Jim Haslett, 97-99 as mentioned
LeBeau, 95-96, eventually the Bengals HC but not directly.
Dom Capers, 92-94... Ed missed this one. When he, Bill and Dick were done perfecting the Zone Blitz, he left to be the Panthers HC.
Dave Brazil (who? Noll's last DC) 90-91. Not a good team or good defense.
Rod Rust, 89... Ed missed this one. Left Pittsburgh to lead NE to a 1-15 record in 1990, fired after 1 season. Then they drafted Bledsoe, right? Probably selective memory, given the 1-15 fiasco.
Dungy, 84-88, then he left Noll to be KC's defensive backfield coach. Was he fired? Who does that?
Woody Widenhofer, 79-84, left to be HC of the USFL's Oklahoma franchise. Does that count?
George Perles, 78, then promoted to Assistant Head Coach through 82. Left to be the HC of Philadelphia's USFL franchise, contract dispute, then Michigan St.
Bud Carson, 73-77, eventually became HC of the Browns a decade later.

The Patriots must have traded their 1991 pick or something. They didn't draft until 11th that year, despite the 1-15 record in 1990. Maybe Slick can tell us what happened. Bledsoe wasn't drafted until 1993.

Look at some of those attendance totals for the Pats in 1990 at Foxboro Stadium. A couple in the 30,000's and a few in the 20,000s. That's brutal attendance. I think that people forget just how abysmal the Patriots were before Kraft bought the team in 1994 and hired Parcells. The Patriots were mostly an afterthought in Boston for much of their existence before the Kraft era. It's really not that much different than what happened in Indy for most of the years from 84-97. You have to build something successful to get people excited, whether it's in Boston or Indianapolis.

Kraft really is one of the best owners in sports though. He took a franchise that had been historically bad and turned them in one of the premier organizations in sports. Belichick and Brady obviously played major roles too.

Looks like Pitt fired Dungy:

Dungy, who was fired by the Steelers after the 1988 season, has revitalized his career as well.

It's not surprising that so many Pitt offensive guys have gotten hired. Teams want people who have been around successful franchises like Pittsburgh. As a Colts fan, I was glad that Arians had spent the previous in a winning environment like Pittsburgh. You want people you hire to have a winning mentality and know how a championship organization conducts itself.

Re: Cardinals hire Arians as head coach

And let's not kid ourselves. Dick LeBeau was heartbroken about what happened with the Bungles when he was HC. He has absolutely zero interest in being in that hot seat ever again but he still loves coaching, loves his players, his fellow coaches, and the Rooneys, and he is still making huge contributions to professional football. But when Cowher brought him back everybody knew he'd never be HC again.

Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
And life itself, rushing over me
Life itself, the wind in black elms,
Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

Re: Cardinals hire Arians as head coach

Not necessarily. Lousy players and injuries can be a factor too. Sometimes, a really good OL coach isn't enough if the talent isn't there.

I don't know if that's true or not but I'm under the impression your OL vastly overachieved this season, relative to its talent level. I could easily be wrong, I didn't watch, but the expectations were certainly not very high.

Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
And life itself, rushing over me
Life itself, the wind in black elms,
Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

Re: Cardinals hire Arians as head coach

Not necessarily. Lousy players and injuries can be a factor too. Sometimes, a really good OL coach isn't enough if the talent isn't there.

I don't know if that's true or not but I'm under the impression your OL vastly overachieved this season, relative to its talent level. I could easily be wrong, I didn't watch, but the expectations were certainly not very high.

Castonzo definitely wasn't considered a lousy player coming out of college, but he has been pretty lousy here. I don't see a ringing endorsement of any coach who has worked with this O-line.

Re: Cardinals hire Arians as head coach

Not necessarily. Lousy players and injuries can be a factor too. Sometimes, a really good OL coach isn't enough if the talent isn't there.

I don't know if that's true or not but I'm under the impression your OL vastly overachieved this season, relative to its talent level. I could easily be wrong, I didn't watch, but the expectations were certainly not very high.

If our OL overachieved this season, then I can only imagine how bad they would be rated before the season started. Only Castonzo saved some face. You couldn't believe how many hits Luck took this season and how limited time he had in the pocket. It sounds OTT but there were cases that 2 seconds AFTER THE SNAP, the opposition's defense was breathing down to Andrew. It was that bad.

Re: Cardinals hire Arians as head coach

Before the season, correct me if I'm wrong but many thought this was one of the worst, if not the bottom ranked OL units in the league. You'd even signed Trai Essex after the Steelers cut him, and tried to inject him into the starting lineup. And the Steelers were considered to be one of the worst/ youngest/ least experienced OLs in the league, too.

The fact that Luck survived the season is a testament to coaching getting more out of that OL than most though was possible.

Why do the things that we treasure most, slip away in time
Till to the music we grow deaf, to God's beauty blind
Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart?
Till we fall away in our own darkness, a stranger to our own hearts
And life itself, rushing over me
Life itself, the wind in black elms,
Life itself in your heart and in your eyes, I can't make it without you

Re: Cardinals hire Arians as head coach

Before the season, correct me if I'm wrong but many thought this was one of the worst, if not the bottom ranked OL units in the league. You'd even signed Trai Essex after the Steelers cut him, and tried to inject him into the starting lineup. And the Steelers were considered to be one of the worst/ youngest/ least experienced OLs in the league, too.

The fact that Luck survived the season is a testament to coaching getting more out of that OL than most though was possible.

You're right that the line was poorly ranked going into this season. And they were pretty bad for most of the year. The main reason Luck survived is because he is an athletic young QB who was excellent at making plays on his feet. The line didn't do a very good job of protecting him and fixing it is the number one priority this off-season. I don't want to see Luck run as much as he did this season because sooner or later he is going to get lit up. He'll keep doing it some though because he's good at it. The only type of QB who could have survived behind our line this season is a young one like Luck who can run. It would have been terrifying if Manning would have been playing behind it.